The Michigan Doily-Sunday, September 17, 1978-Page
MacBride comes back in style

By ERIC ZORN
Owen MacBride's first set at the Ark
Friday night was lousy, and he knew it.
"I feel terrible," he admitted frankly in
a between-sets interview. "Sometimes
you just get uncomfortable and things
break down. I'm over it now."r s
And sure, the curly haired Irish
folksinger and storyteller rebounded
from a mediocre beginning and
continued the evening with a well paced,
entertaining and moving second set.
"IT DOESN'T happen often,"
MacBride said, nursing a Bud,
especially not at the Ark. For some
reason I didn't link up with the audience
at first, then I forgot those lyrics in the
middle of the song, and I couldn't snap
out of the slump."
MacBride's songs were methodically
performed, and his reknownedsstories
were funny only in spite of rather
listless renderings. The sing-along
numbers temporarily roused the
collective spirit, but there was simply
no electricity in the air, and it seemed a
bit like a concert given by the sandman.
A catchy air with a chorus that ran:
Indeed I did
Don'tyou know Idid
Do me right, Fol-loo-ril-li

Well indeed I did.
and a stream on consciousness number
called "Finnegan's Wake" were
definite bright spots over the first
hour, as MacBride showed off his rich
Irish heritage with various styles of
folks songs. The strumming and finger -
picking on the six string guitar were apt
and tasteful, if not a tad basic.
However, Doc Watson himself 8ouldn't
have saved the first set.
IT WASN'T the worst night on record
by any means for this Toronto-based
commercial advertising artist. "A
booking agent in Montreal once booked
me into an 1800 person auditorium in
Halifax which specializes in rock
bands. I knew something was amiss
right from the start when they hadn't a
hotel. for me to stay in, and the dive
where I stayed served clam chowder
which gave me violent food poisoning,
and winos pounded at the door asking
for, if you can believe it, shaving lotion
to drink.
"Well, I went on in this big
auditorium, and the only people in the
entire place were a few drunk sailors
and some whores. In the middle of my
first set, fights started breaking out."
MacBride has toured extensively in

North America, and played at all the
major folk festivals. "I do this as a
hobby, you know," he said. "I get a real
charge out of playing for people which I
might lose if I had to do it nine to five, so
to speak. This way, as long as people
keep listening, I keep singing."
THE SECOND set was . certainly
something worth listening to. Tankard
of beer faithfully flanking him,
MacBride went from song to song
faster than before, and filled the gaps
with light and friendly patter. The
jokes, which before seemed forced, now
flowed right out of the subject matter of
the songs. Pat and Mick, the butts of his
good natured ethnic jabs, came to life in
the stories, and MacBride began to
weave the successful web that a good
storyteller-singer must. At once,
everyone was at ease and attentive.
Last winter, John Allen Cameron
sang a song called "And The Band
Played Waltzing Matilda;" Friday
night, MacBride san;g. this ballad of
maimed Australian war victims in a
hard hitting, yet extremely
professional way. The song suggests
that "there are worse things than
dying," and asks the usual set of
philosophical questions about war. As a
follow-up, he offered "Johnny I Hardly
Knew Ye," which deals with a mangled
soldier's return home.
A song about the ravages of ageing,
"Old Woman," was followed by a song
Michael Cooney has done at the Ark
before:
How can you tell me that you're lonely

Andsayforyou the sun won't shine?
Let me take you by the hand,
I'll lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something to make you
change your mind
It sounds like a depressing set :
tunes, but the performance was of th
eery highest quality, and th4
entertainment rich. Justnas h
nonchalantly predicted between sets
Owen MacBride came back in style.
Tonight finds Jay Ungar and Lyr
Hardy, a rompin' duo, playing for th
Ark audience. Jay has played fiddle li
David Bromberg's band, and Lyn" is a
excellent songwriter and singer;
together, the pair have two albums ou
on Philo Records.
Imom

DIRECTIONS

IN FIBER

v, $R
r

Sept. 6-Oct 1

Reception:
Sept. 8,7-9

Tuef -Fri.
Sat, Sun. 12-5
764-3234"

Daily Photo by JOHN KNOX
Singer-storyteller Owen MacBride does some of the first at the Ark.
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FIRST FLOOR MICHIGAN UNIOI


NPP'-

-_

You Ought To B
On Stagel
or behind it ...
or inside it ..
... or in front of it, in the orchestra, or outside the front door selling
tickets.
Whatever your talent is, whether you sing, dance, sew, act, hammer
nails, focus lights, keep accurate accounts or throw fantastic parties, Ann
Arbor Civic Theatre needs you.
If you want to become a maker of magic - a purveyor of dreams,
come down and see us.
MASS MEETING-M014., SEPT. 18-8 P.M.
W tANN ARBOR CIVIC THEATRE
Am Arbor 04 cThiuftr BMg. --201 Mum Oad r.

5 -

i

t :

(off W. LIBERTY)

FmO ARoR a~ v ~ THE K

Mr. Tambourine Man AP Photo


UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME
POP CONCERT COMMITTEE
PRESENTS

Bob Dylan, that swinging troubadour who made the sixties special for some of
us, opened a two-month American tour in Augusta, Maine, Friday evening.
He'll be driving into Detroit October 13.

- ~looking lbr the intellectURl side of life?

J
//
*'

ANN ARBOR CIVIC BALLET
THE ANN ARBOR CIVIC BALLET begins its twenty-
fourth consecutive year of providing exceptional
performance opportunities and intensive training
to dancers in this area.
Auditions: Wed., Sept. 20, 7 pm, 8 pm
Sylvie Studio, 525 E. Liberty,668-8066
MEN WELCOME
POINTE SHOES REQUIRED FOR AUDITION

I

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Read the Michigan Daily

{
Sunday, Sept. 17, 7:30 p.m.-Rm. 25 Angel Hall
WOO LLOO MOO LOO
THE PEOPLE AGAINST THE PLONNERS
Green Bands Forever
A Documentary Film by a Sydney, Australia, Collective on an
episode in the recent Anarcho-Syndicalist Builders/Laborers
Union struggle against urban developers gentrifying the inner
city-a process just commencing in many U.S. cities. The
builders/laborers movement expressed the producers ethic-
the right and obligation of the workers to be concerned and
in control of the social effects of her or his work.
Discussion following with one of the Collective, a
member of the Union, Pat Fisk.
f1NGELL HALL-Classroom -25
OFFICE OF CAMPUS LIFE PRESENTS
IN CONCERT
THURSDAY, September 21- 8 PM
Pease Auditorium, Eastern Michigan University

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 8:00 PM
NOTRE DAME ATHLETIC & CONVOCATION CENTER
TICKETS $7.50: Send certified check or money order payable to Notre Dame
YES Show, Notre Dame Athletic & Convocation Center, South Bend, Indiana
46556

j

OPEN[N1G on the grounds of TEN G0
the michigan union
PL- NtA state street at FO E
south university bIN E
saturday, sept. 30
10 am to 6 pmf
sunday, oct. 1
12 noon to 6 pm the artists and craftsmen guild of the university of michigan
invites you to an exhibition of ceram cs ,fbers, graphics jewelry,
paintings, and sculpture by 75 guild members
= 0c
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"DRETIN I-
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A noRY Ef)
"DIRECTIONS IN MFi /
FIBER" EXHIBIT
OF CONTEMPORARY} PENDLETON_

"
,


DOUBLE FEATURE
TONY RICHARDSON'S 191
4
SANCTUARY
. The deep South-as only Faulkner knows how to expose it-set in Mississippi
during the 1920's this time. LEE REMICK stars as Temple Drake, daughter of
the Governor and forced through fateful circumstances to reveal her shameful
secret. The familiar Faulkner elements are present-the weight of tradition,
human failing and moral decay. With YVES MONTAND as Candy-the under-
world kingpin. 7 ONLY
WILLIAM WYLER'S 1939

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